Have you ever gone to a Special Place hoping for top-quality things, but were disappointed? ‘Course you have! Or have you made an extravagant gift, thinking that the recipient would provide stellar service in reaction to this? Scriptures heard on the upcoming weekend describe (?) the feelings of God–in human terms–about the slowness or disregard of the Goodness of Creation. We in the pew could see these instances as interesting observations from archaic times–or we could understand them as symptomatic of our own brokenness.
ISAIAH 5:1-7 is a “love song” about a holy vineyard, the People of Jerusalem and Judah, those left after the Assyrians had destroyed the Northern part of Israel. God has come expecting good grapes, but all God gets is WILD ones. God did everything right: planted choice vines, cleared the stones, even put up a hedge to keep away the riff-raff (the fence around the Torah?)… “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done to it?” And so God allowed it to be wrecked; will he start over? “[God] expected justice. but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!”
Paul’s Letter to the PHILIPPIANS (3:4b-14) expects the New Start, the Road to Perfection. The “planting” of Jesus is considered central to the Gospel; Paul considers everything about his own tradition to be lost: “I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” This is part of his exhortation to the lifestyle cultivated by Jesus the Christ: to clear the stones, to prepare for God’s coming to rejoice over the Creation. To continue the metaphor–which Paul didn’t–the “hedge” described in the Older Testament could well be the bridle on our actions and words which would exclude the sinful deeds to which we’re all inclined.
In Jesus’ final days, MATTHEW portrays him telling another parable to the Jerusalem priests and other Pharisees. 21:33-46 is the story about the vineyard owner whose tenants take over the place, even to the point of murder. After many tries at reconciliation, the owner comes and evicts the tenants and gives charge of the vineyard to some who are more worthy. This is a pretty bald indictment of the prevailing authorities, telling them that they’re to be thrown out and a new system instituted. But have the current tenants now done all they could do to care for the planting of justice, forgiveness and peace?
We have one grapevine, infamously named by our neighbors as The Vine that Ate West Side. It’s huge! The tendrils are not content with staying in our own yard but have climbed a fence and abused several of our neighborhood maples! And this year it produced TONS of grapes…will they be sour? I’ve often observed in my own conduct the many stones–sometimes pebbles, often times boulders–which hamper the holy growth of the sacred vineyard within. And you??
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Each Tuesday we confront or are confronted by the Lessons to be heard on the upcoming weekend; join us at horacebrownking.com
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